In the right triangle shown, $AC = 5$ and $AB = 8$. What is $BC$ ? $A$ $C$ $B$ $5$ $?$ $8$
Solution: We know $a^2 + b^2 = c^2$ We want to find $a$ ; let $b = 5$ and $c = 8$ So $a^2 = c^2 - b^2 = 8^2 - 5^2 = 39$ Then, $a = \sqrt{39}$.